Friday, January 20, 2017

The Boundary Composite!

If
confession is good for the soul, then here goes.

This word acted like the two
bars on one of my favorite cartoons [see the 5th row] I used when I
was teaching humor and creativity in the classroom. I had all 14 quilts in a
row ready to place them in some order on the composite and I just couldn’t see
a creative pattern. My boundary had become a closed box, not just 2 bars. Rita looked over my shoulder and said look for
lines and colors and faces and there it was, my bars opened. Yes, I know, each
quilt makes its own heartfelt statement. For the composite, here are my
thoughts as to how the rows speak.

Row one: How
obvious, fences, wide open inviting views, clouds with blue sky, leading lines taking
[breaking our boundaries] us off into new adventures, wonderful perspectives.

Row two: The
faces row. A simple one panel cartoon is known as “economy of expression.” If a
picture is worth a thousand words, these 3 images say it all. First, does the
monkey really feel that boundary? Personally, I think it does. Carolyn’s quilt
says it shouts, no more boundaries, no more! And then Tricia caps it off,
“Boundaries, sure, but who cares!” Row two makes a powerful statement for the theme
of this round.

Row three
and four: You just can’t take you eye off the color and line. Each block
demands your eye to move to the next block and then to the next then back,
almost as if the quilts are tied together. Gail, it was almost as if you saw
the fissure in Nedra’s panel but in abstract. Kathy, I saw rain drops on the
sunrise in Dee’s panel. Candace, at first I couldn’t decide if the black border
was part of the quilt, then saw your signature in the corner. It ties very
nicely with the blacks in Sara’s work. My eye has difficulty leaving rows 3 and
4.

Row 5: What
an imaginative way to complete the composite. Karen’s open gate into the
distance tells us there are no boundaries and what great perspective in a
vertical image. Yes, I was very involved with Rita’s doors and I have been
behind [or better said – beyond] each one of them. As we photographed each door
I was reminded of what a magnificent word for this round. You proved the fact
that you know no boundaries on your creativity. My cartoon character is/was
trapped by only two self-imposed boundaries. Creativity and positive outlook is
a great hacksaw.

Randy, thanks so much for all you do to present our works of art so brilliantly ! As others have mentioned, I too, really enjoy reading about your thought processes, and how you magically put our individual works in a beautifully rendered 'whole piece' quilt !

What a wonderful composite. You are able to take the diverse examples we present as our interpretation of the theme word and present them as a cohesive design. Thank you for your thoughtful presentations.

Some Super Websites!

The Material Mavens

We are a group of art quilters who come from various parts of the United States, from the East coast and then south to Arkansas and Texas. We were inspired by the original Twelve by Twelve international art quilting group.

Beginning in September, 2011, we started posting our 12"x 12" art quilts, which were based on themes chosen in turn by our members. For Round One, we posted quilts every two months, always on the 15th of the designated months.

Round Two of The Material Mavens began in October, 2014. Some changes were made: quilts were posted every three months, and the quilts could be be either 12"x 12" or rectangular ones measuring 11" x 14", either horizontal or vertical in orientation.

Round Three of The Material Mavens will begin in July, 2018. Again, changes have been made. Now those members who wish to stay affiliated with the group are free to post quilts every time or every now and then. Two, our blog administrator collected suggested themes from the members who wanted to remain affiliated. These themes were then pulled at random from a "hat," and they were then assigned in order for the posting dates. Since we had 13 members who wanted to remain, we will be posting quilts every 3 months until 2021! This date is significant and appropriate, because 2021 will be the 10th year that our group has been in existence.